1955 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1955 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
	National League (since 1887);
Location
	Forbes Field (since 1909); Pittsburgh[1] (since 1907);
Other information
Owner(s)	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson, Branch Rickey (minority shareholders)
General manager(s)	Branch Rickey
Manager(s)	Fred Haney
Local television	none
Local radio	KDKA; Bob Prince, Dick Bingham
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The 1955 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 74th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 69th in the National League. The Pirates finished eighth and last in the league standings with a record of 60–94.

Offseason

Prior to 1955 season: Ellis Burton was signed as an amateur free agent by the Pirates.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Dodgers	98	55	0.641	—	56–21	42–34
Milwaukee Braves	85	69	0.552	13½	46–31	39–38
New York Giants	80	74	0.519	18½	44–35	36–39
Philadelphia Phillies	77	77	0.500	21½	46–31	31–46
Cincinnati Redlegs	75	79	0.487	23½	46–31	29–48
Chicago Cubs	72	81	0.471	26	43–33	29–48
St. Louis Cardinals	68	86	0.442	30½	41–36	27–50
Pittsburgh Pirates	60	94	0.390	38½	36–39	24–55

Record vs. opponents

1955 National League Records Sources:
Team	BR	CHC	CIN	MIL	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Brooklyn	—	14–7–1	12–10	15–7	13–9	16–6	14–8	14–8
Chicago	7–14–1	—	11–11	7–15	12–10	10–12	11–11	14–8
Cincinnati	10–12	11–11	—	9–13	9–13	11–11	14–8	11–11
Milwaukee	7–15	15–7	13–9	—	14–8	14–8	11–11	11–11
New York	9–13	10–12	13–9	8–14	—	10–12	17–5	13–9
Philadelphia	6–16	12–10	11–11	8–14	12–10	—	15–7	13–9
Pittsburgh	8–14	11–11	8–14	11–11	5–17	7–15	—	10–12
St. Louis	8–14	8–14	11–11	11–11	9–13	9–13	12–10	—

Game log

1955 Game Log: 60–94 (Home: 36–39; Away: 24–55)

April: 3–11 (Home: 2–6; Away: 1–5)

May: 11–20 (Home: 7–9; Away: 4–11)

June: 10–18 (Home: 5–7; Away: 5–11)

July: 14–19 (Home: 10–12; Away: 4–7)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
74	July 1	@ Dodgers	3–2	Law (4–3)	Podres	—	10,325	25–49
75	July 2	@ Dodgers	7–6 (10)	Kline (5–10)	Labine	—	6,158	26–49
76	July 3	@ Dodgers	7–5	Kline (6–10)	Roebuck	—		27–49
77	July 3	@ Dodgers	1–3	Loes	Surkont (7–8)	Labine	15,000	27–50
78	July 4	Giants	4–3	Donoso (1–2)	McCall	—		28–50
79	July 4	Giants	3–5 (11)	Grissom	Donoso (1–3)	—	16,902	28–51
80	July 5	Giants	1–11	Antonelli	Martin (0–1)	—	7,245	28–52
81	July 6	Dodgers	5–10	Erskine	Face (0–2)	Roebuck		28–53
82	July 6	Dodgers	4–1	Law (5–3)	Roebuck	—	20,674	29–53
83	July 7	Dodgers	3–4	Loes	Kline (6–11)	—	4,533	29–54
84	July 8	Phillies	1–5	Wehmeier	Surkont (7–9)	—	7,304	29–55
85	July 9	Phillies	1–7	Roberts	Littlefield (2–7)	—	2,637	29–56
86	July 10	Phillies	1–4	Simmons	Friend (5–5)	—		29–57
87	July 10	Phillies	3–1	Law (6–3)	Negray	—	6,454	30–57
88	July 14	Redlegs	1–19	Collum	Surkont (7–10)	—	6,947	30–58
89	July 15	Redlegs	1–9	Nuxhall	Law (6–4)	Freeman	1,563	30–59
90	July 16	Cardinals	5–1	Donoso (2–3)	Arroyo	—	2,579	31–59
91	July 17	Cardinals	8–9 (12)	Arroyo	Donoso (2–4)	Lawrence		31–60
92	July 17	Cardinals	0–1	Haddix	Face (0–3)	—	8,490	31–61
93	July 19	Braves	4–3 (19)	Friend (6–5)	Conley	—	7,953	32–61
94	July 20	Braves	4–3	Littlefield (3–7)	Crone	—	5,568	33–61
95	July 21	Braves	3–5	Spahn	Donoso (2–5)	—	2,568	33–62
96	July 22	Cubs	3–1	Face (1–3)	Minner	—	7,388	34–62
97	July 23	Cubs	10–2	Friend (7–5)	Hacker	—	2,955	35–62
98	July 24	Cubs	12–5	Hall (1–0)	Rush	—		36–62
99	July 24	Cubs	3–2 (10)	Law (7–4)	Jones	—	14,466	37–62
100	July 26	@ Cardinals	3–1	Littlefield (4–7)	Arroyo	—	10,261	38–62
101	July 27	@ Cardinals	1–6	Haddix	Face (1–4)	—	6,424	38–63
102	July 28	@ Cardinals	1–4	Schmidt	Hall (1–1)	—	6,039	38–64
103	July 29	@ Redlegs	5–16	Nuxhall	Law (7–5)	—	5,690	38–65
104	July 30	@ Redlegs	2–5	Collum	Friend (7–6)	—	3,030	38–66
105	July 31	@ Redlegs	4–7	Black	Littlefield (4–8)	Freeman		38–67
106	July 31	@ Redlegs	5–6	Freeman	Donoso (2–6)	—	9,704	38–68

August: 14–12 (Home: 9–4; Away: 5–8)

September: 8–14 (Home: 3–1; Away: 5–13)

Legend: = Win = Loss
Bold = Pirates team member

Notable transactions

August 27, 1955: Red Swanson was signed as an amateur free agent (bonus baby) by the Pirates.^[3]

Roster

1955 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

20,57 Bill Bell

31 Roger Bowman

31 Lino Donoso

26 Roy Face

19 Bob Friend

37 Al Grunwald

30 Dick Hall

30 Nellie King

22 Ron Kline

32 Vern Law

27 Dick Littlefield

28 Paul Martin

23 Laurin Pepper

34 Bob Purkey

35 Max Surkont

20 Red Swanson

39 Jake Thies

28 Ben Wade

34 Fred Waters

Catchers

11 Toby Atwell

9 Nick Koback

17 Hardy Peterson

10 Jack Shepard

Infielders

12 Dick Cole

8 Gene Freese

3 George Freese

4 Sid Gordon

24 Dick Groat

29 Dale Long

6 Johnny O'Brien

7 Curt Roberts

6 Dick Smith

5 Preston Ward

Outfielders

13,21 Roberto Clemente

18 Jerry Lynch

25 Román Mejías

14 Felipe Montemayor

7 Eddie O'Brien

14 Johnny Powers

16 Tom Saffell

21 Earl Smith

15 Frank Thomas

Manager

2 Fred Haney

Coaches

40 John Fitzpatrick

43 Sam Narron

41 Clyde Sukeforth

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Jack Shepard	94	264	63	.239	2	23
LF	Frank Thomas	142	510	125	.245	25	72
CF	Eddie O'Brien	75	236	55	.233	0	8

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Dick Cole	77	239	54	.226	0	21
Hardy Peterson	32	81	20	.247	1	10
Earl Smith	5	16	1	.063	0	0
Dick Smith	4	0	0	----	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Bob Friend	44	200.1	14	9	2.83	98
Roy Face	42	125.2	5	7	3.58	84
Lino Donoso	25	95	4	6	5.31	38
Roger Bowman	7	16.2	0	3	8.64	8

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	ERA	SO
Al Grunwald	3	4.70	2
Red Swanson	1	18.00	0
Bill Bell	1	0.00	0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Frank Thomas, reserve^[4]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
Open	Hollywood Stars	Pacific Coast League	Bobby Bragan
AA	New Orleans Pelicans	Southern Association	Andy Cohen
A	Williamsport Grays	Eastern League	Larry Shepard
A	Lincoln Chiefs	Western League	Bill Burwell
B	Waco Pirates	Big State League	Stan Wentzel
B	Burlington-Graham Pirates	Carolina League	Larry Dorton
C	Phoenix Stars	Arizona–Mexico League	Jerry Gardner
C	Salinas Packers	California League	Buck Elliott and Jack Paepke
C	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	Jack Paepke and Buck Elliott
C	St. Jean Canadiens	Provincial League	Steve Mizerak and Fred Luciano
D	Dublin Irish	Georgia State League	George Kinnamon
D	Brunswick Pirates	Georgia–Florida League	Frank Oceak
D	Clinton Pirates	Mississippi–Ohio Valley League	Robert Clark

LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS: Brunswick

Notes

↑ From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
↑ Ellis Burton at Baseball-Reference
↑ Red Swanson at Baseball-Reference
↑ http://baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1955as.shtml

References

1955 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Reference
1955 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.

[2] Ellis Burton at Baseball-Reference

[3] Red Swanson at Baseball-Reference

[4] ttp://baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1955as.shtml

1955 MLB season by team
American League	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit Kansas City New York Washington
National League	Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati Milwaukee New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1955 All-Star Game 1955 World Series

1955 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1887)
Location
Forbes Field (since 1909) Pittsburgh^[1] (since 1907)
Other information
Owner(s)	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson, Branch Rickey (minority shareholders)
General manager(s)	Branch Rickey
Manager(s)	Fred Haney
Local television	none
Local radio	KDKA Bob Prince, Dick Bingham
< Previous season Next season >